Barber and Denker Qualifier Tournament
On the weekend of June 7th
and 8th, Bay Area Chess ran
the selection tournament to
determine who would
represent Northern Califorina
in the Barber and Denker
Tournaments. Each year
every state affiliate across the
United States selects one
player to represent it in the
Barber K-8 Tournament of
Champions and the Denker
High School Tournament of
Champions. Each of those
tournaments take place
during the U.S. Open in
August.
The event took place at the
Courtyard Marriott in Foster
City. Twelve players
competed in the Barber
Qualifier for K-8 and nine
players competed in the
Denker Qualifier for High
School students. The
tournament was five rounds.
The Denker High School
qualifier was won by National
Master Colin Chow with a
perfect 5/5 points. This
earned him $300 to help with
the expense of competing in
the national event.
given the honor.
The tournament was
organized by Salman Azhar
and Judit Sztaray with Bay
Area Chess. The Chief
Tournament Director was
Justin Easterday.
The National Tournaments
took place in August in
Orlando, FL alongside the
U.S. Open. NM Chow placed
6th in the Denker
Tournament and NM Banik
placed 14th in the Barber
Tournament.
Below are some of the best
games from the event.
Analysis computer assisted.
In the first game, NM Colin
Chow plays a nice
combination to win his 4th
round game.
White: NM Colin Chow(2234)
Black: Neel Apte (2181)
B30 Sicilian Defense
1.e4 c5 2.Nf3 Nf6 3.Nc3
Nc6 4.Bb5 Nd4 5.Bc4 d6
6.h3 e6 7.0–0 Be7 8.Re1
0–0 9.d3 Bd7N
The Barber K-8 Qualifier was
won by Fide Master Cameron
Wh eeler with 4/5 points. He
declined being the
representative to the national
tournament so National
Master Siddharth Banik was
9...Nxf3+ 10.Qxf3 Bd7 was
played in Stripunsky –
Teplitsky, Montreal 2004 with
an even positon.
Page 23
CalChess Journal
Barber and
Denker Qualifier
1
2-4
1
2-6
Denker
NM Colin Chow*
NM Kesav Viswanadha
Jack Qijie Zhu
Hunter Klotz-Burwell
5
3
Barber
FM Cameron Wheeler
4
NM Siddharth Banik*
3
NM Vign Panchanantham
Josiah Stearman
Christopher Pan
Ladia Jirasek
*State Representative
16.Nxd4 Qxd4 17.Be3²
The two bishops give White an
edge.
17...Qb4 18.a3 Qd6 19.Bd4
Bc6 20.Qd2 Nd7 21.Qc3
Qg6 22.Re3! f6 23.Rae1!
Kh8 24.Bd1 Ne5 25.f4!?
Nf7 26.Bg4 Nh6 27.Be6
Nf5! 28.Rf3 Rfe8 29.Kh2
Nh4?
Better was 29...h5.
30.Rg3 Qh6 31.f5 Qf4?
(diagram)
10.Nxd4 cxd4 11.Ne2 Qb6
12.c3 d5!? 13.exd5 exd5
14.Bb3 Bc5 15.cxd4 Bxd4
Summer 2014